Term for a design element

[Allenayres83]

So I am very new to working with inkscape or any kind of design and I am pretty much learning through YouTube. Currently I am trying to make some silhouette type designs, something pretty simple, but I want to add a bit of detail instead of a simple outline. So I'm trying to find tutorials on adding the little lines of detail that I see in others designs but I don't really know the terminology. I have attached a picture of a deer design with some cut outs to try to show you what I'm talking about. If you could help me out and lead me in the right direction or help explain how to use these types of details I would greatly appreciate it.

[Lazur]

Hi.

I'd suggest looking up cel shading.
For a start you could try relying on the trace bitmap function -it captures the luminance levels of the input so it should be a good starting point on this kind of poster effect.
Needless to say you need to re-trace-redraw the automatic result manually with the preferred decoratives/aesthetic.

[Moini]

Additional info: Boolean operations (i.e. Path > Difference) will help you achieve those holes. For making good-looking shading, I can't help. For me, it would just be trial and error until it looks right ;-)

[brynn]

Welcome to the forum!

Is that image with a deer, a raster image?  Or is it something you've already drawn with Inkscape, and it's vector paths?  As I was reading your message, I got the idea you had already drawn the deer (or maybe something else) in Inkscape, and you wanted to add more details.

If that's the case, then it depends on what kind of " little lines of detail " you want to add.  Personally, I have no idea what you've seen in other designs.  It could be that you can draw them with the Pen or Pencil tool.  But depending on the details, Inkscape might have a tool that would create what you want.

If they are fairly simple details, you might not even need to draw them.  You might be able to use the  Node tool, and do some node editing to create the details.

So if you're talking about editing a vector file, please give us some more details about the details (yuk-yuk) which you want to create.  Or maybe even some images showing what you want to achieve.  Then we can give you some ideas how to do it.